Olive ridleys get their name from the coloring of their heart-shaped
shell, which starts out gray but becomes olive green once the turtles
are adults. They have one to two visible claws on each of their
paddle-like flippers.
The olive ridley turtle is named for the generally greenish color
of its skin and shell, or carapace. It is closely related to the Kemp’s
ridley, with the primary distinction being that olive ridleys are found
only in warmer waters, including the southern Atlantic, Pacific and
Indian Oceans.
Olive and Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest of the
sea turtles, weighing up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and reaching only
about 2 feet (65 centimeters) in shell length. The olive ridley has a
slightly smaller head and smaller shell than the Kemp’s.
These
turtles are solitary, preferring the open ocean. They migrate hundreds
or even thousands of miles every year, and come together as a group only
once a year for the arribada,
